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Four people were convicted on conspiracy charges in a U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency investigation of counterfeit drug sales. The operation in Gwent, Wales, involved drugs imported from Pakistan and resold in the U.K. The investigation was part of an Interpol initiative called Operation Pangea.

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Anvisa, Brazil's medtech regulatory agency, has undertaken a number of steps to meet international standards for good manufacturing practices and streamline the registration process for domestic and international firms. Brazil is also harmonizing its GMP regulations for medical and IVD devices with those of the Mercosur trading bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Australia is proposing to label all new drugs and medical devices with a black triangle to indicate that the product is new and subject to further monitoring than is required for more established medical products -- a system already in use in the UK. The EU's European Medicines Agency is adopting a black triangle for some drugs starting Sept. 1.

Pfizer, Novartis and Abbott are among the multinational drugmakers said to be interested in acquiring Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos, Brazil's fourth-largest drugmaker overall and a leader in prescription sales. Two of the families that own Ache are reportedly ready to sell, but a third owner is not.

The global logistics services company Marken has just opened a large new depot in Beijing that provides temperature-controlled storage along with serving as a major distribution hub. "China's an area which we see growing quickly [with] more and more clinical trials," said Ariette Van Strien, senior vice president for commercial operations. Marken has been active in China for about a decade and recently received a 12-year logistics license from China's State Food and Drug Administration.

Indian drug companies must focus on new technologies, including development of "super-generics," in order to grow and flourish, said Andrew Barrett, director of medical technology in India at Cambridge Consultants. "[T]he required investments can be recouped because medical products have long lifecycles," he added. Other experts at a Mumbai conference noted that the biggest growth opportunities will come from innovations to differentiate products, because the number of expiring drug patents has peaked, and other countries are offering greater competition for low-cost generics.